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TULSA, Okla. — Hundreds of patients of a Tulsa oral surgeon accused of unsanitary practices
queued outside a health clinic yesterday, hoping to discover whether they had been exposed to
hepatitis or the virus that causes AIDS.

On Friday, letters began going out to 7,000 patients treated by Dr. W. Scott Harrington in the
past six years. The letter warns that poor hygiene at his clinics created a public-health hazard,
and it tells how and where to seek treatment, but it couldn’t explain why Harrington’s allegedly
unsafe practices went on for so long.

Testing for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and the virus that causes AIDS began at 10 a.m. yesterday,
and 420 people were screened by the end of the day.

“I just hope I don’t have anything,” said Kari Childress, 38, who had a tooth extracted at one
of Harrington’s two clinics five months ago. “You trust and believe in doctors to follow the rules,
and that’s the scariest part.”